Igniting the Power of People

In the last few days, while I have been excited about starting a new role and being part of the GE Power HR team, I reminisced an incident from an earlier stint with the GE Power business in 2004. We were hiring early career Electrical Engineers. In the interviews, I asked a lot of questions pertinent to Electrical Engineering – Ohm’s law, Coulomb’s law etc. Being a graduate in the same subject, I wanted to display my passion for the field. We ended up rejecting many candidates as I felt that their fundamentals were not in place. At the end of the process, I received an insight (those days it was referred to as “feedback”) from the Engineering leader I was working with. She said, “Our role in interviews is not to show how smart we are, but to find out how fit the candidate is for the job and the organization”. The insight did disappoint me because I felt I was doing my bit in selecting the best. However, as I reflect on that experience today and with the context of the times we are in, I feel my role increasingly is to build teams which live and breathe the purpose. It’s not about selecting a few and rejecting others but it’s about taking the team forward, together.

Whether the times are tough or not, we always win and lose as a TEAM. As we navigate, we may fall a few times, but as long as we can get up and keep moving forward, we emerge stronger and successful. Its the team which holds prominence, not the leader. Leaders should act as a glue and guiding force. This fundamental shift in mindset will make the organizations and leaders survive in the years to come!